Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?

Question

Any one know where eleven came from?

Answer 1

wouldn't it be teney-one, teney-two
because we have thirty-one and thirty-two.
not a bad way of thinking, just don't start questioning why is a chair called a chair, why isn't called a dog or a blob. if you do that you will get a headache

Answer 2

The names eleven and twelve are unique in numbering and having their own manes. They derive from the Gothic 'ainlif' which pertains to ten 'and one left' and the root Latin 'linquere' and German 'Leipein' (to leave). Twelve has the same derivative from the Gothic twalif, meaning two left,after ten, and the German Zwolf. Numbers up to ten could be counted using the fingers and up to twelve using ten fingers and two hands. Up to that time numerology was not considered of much significance and after twelve any particular number would be described as 'many'. This could be 13 or 100. Eventually monastic learning made all the numbers relative to the measurement of tens so after twenty we get twentyone, twentytwo and so on.

Answer 3

From the Middle English ellefne
which was derived
from the Old English endleofan
which came from Old Germanic einlif
which means "One Left", meaning count to ten, then go one more.

Twelve is a similar word with the Old Germanic being twalif - "Two Left".

Answer 4

By whom is the number 11 represented as the vocalization of onety one? I have never heard of this before, and I am really curious where you have heard this expression.

Answer 5

Because it all BEGAN with a counting system based on "ten". The terms "twenty", "thirty" etc. are derived from compound words meaning "two tens", "three tens", etc. There was hardly a need to begin with a term meaning "one ten" when we already had "ten".
http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?twenty

So the question we're left with is why we have this odd system from eleven to nineteen. Actually, thirteen to nineteen aren't so odd, since they simply mean "three and ten", "four and teen", etc. The order may be different from "twenty three", but the principle is the same.

So, what of "eleven" and "twelve"? The first part isn't too hard. "Eleven" goes back to Middle English "en-leven", whose first syllable is a relative of "an/ane" meaning "one", and the "tw-" of "twelve" gives away its connection to "two". So we can sort of see that these two have something to do with the system of counting by ten. In fact, the original meaning of these two words was "one left" and "two left" (after counting to ten).

Here's how one dictionary describes it:

"Eleven in Old English is endleofan, and related forms in the various Germanic languages point back to an original Germanic *ainlif, "eleven." *Ainlif is composed of *ain-, "one," the same as our one, and the suffix *-lif from the Germanic root *lib-, "to adhere, remain, remain left over." Thus, eleven is literally "one-left" (over, that is, past ten), and twelve is "two-left" (over past ten)."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dict.asp?Word=eleven

see also:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=eleven

Fine, but why was not "eleven" and "twelve" later adapted to the "teen" pattern? Simply because these were common, well-established forms. And it is precisely the common, everyday words that are LEAST likely to submit to "rules". (That's why the "irregular" past tense verb forms -- had, were, went, etc-- and irregular plural forms --men, mice, geese-- are almost always found with simple, COMMON words.)

Of course, there were some alternative forms out there. We still use an alternative word for twelve -- "do-zen" itself shows us that (compare German "zehn")-- though it has gained its own special use (for a GROUPING of twelve). In fact, the fact that many things were divided into units of twelve also helps explain why eleven and twelve were treated differently. (Note that the use of twelve has ancient roots. See for example the Mesopotamian mathematical system, which used both six [and its double twelve] and ten --and gave us our 12 hours, 60 seconds, etc) That is NOT to say that these number names originated in counting by twelve, simply that the later USE of twelve contributed to the names' not being changed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal#Origin

Answer 6

eleven

• cardinal number 1 one more than ten; 11. (Roman numeral: xi or XI.) 2 a sports team of eleven players.

— DERIVATIVES elevenfold adjective & adverb.

— ORIGIN Old English, from the base of ONE + a second element occurring also in TWELVE.

Answer 7

For the same reason that 12 isn't pronounced Onety Two.

Answer 8

counting systems in various roman languages often have unique words all the way up to 20. (german, french, italian)
I bet this is bcause you have 10 fingers + 10 toes. These were the original counting tools in the old days.

Answer 9

Even at the beginning of time when they invented numbers, they KNEW that teens were abnormal. So, they had to devise something weird and different to describe the teen numbers. Don't worry, they will grow up some day.

Answer 10

etymologically the word eleven originated from a Germanic compound *ainlif* meaning "one left"